It's that time of the year again.... the months November and December. Back in the town where i came from, these 2 months will conjure up a magical word : WET. This is the time when the wind decides to switch its direction and bring about half the water in the South China Sea to the land nearest to it.
Based on my experience when i was younger, the monsoon season starts when u see ants and other 6-legged bugs moving to higher grounds causing traffic jams in the cracks on my house walls and fences. Usually, a day or two after that, VOILA!! The sky turns gray and the clouds look heavy and threatening. Soon, the raindrops start falling in a slow rhythmic pattern. A slow drizzle soon give way to a massive downpour. Mind you, this downpour can drone on and on for the next 2 weeks or so.
I remember i used to have great fun during this period. My split level semi-detached house used to get flooded pretty bad when the rain did not stop for days. Me and my sister would firstly tuck up the curtains in the living room so that it would not be soaked in the muddy water. Then, we would transport our musical organ to the 2nd level of the house. With all that done, me n my sister would sit at the stairs and watch the rising water. Occasionally, she would make me a paper boat and i would watch it sail around in my living room. This habit soon disappeared after i read Stephen King's 'It' where in the opening chapter a little boy was lured into a storm drain by the clown whilst he was playing with his paper boat during a thunder storm. Ho hoho....
When the flood had retreated, my Ma would bring out her trusty pail and mop to rid the house of the mud n dried weed the water carried in. While she was scurrying away with the busy task at hand, i would be enjoying myself looking at the marks left by the flood on the walls and my pa's car tyres These marks would tell me how high the water level was the day before...the higher it was, the more excited it made me. However, some of the memories are unpleasant. Once in a while, i would encounter centipedes that got left behind by the water. Apparently, they forgot to swim away with the water and were left wriggling behind in the living room or the car porch...and how i hated wriggling animals!! Of course, it would be less fun if you get bitten by one of those. Simply freaking nasty creatures!
Back in 1994, my pa renovated the house and our house grew almost a foot taller. Since then, the flood never came back but i did find other ways to enjoy the monsoon season: by looking at my neighbour's house and timing the rate at which it was disappearing under water.
The flood was gone, yes, but my Ma did still have other dilemmas. For one, the weather was so wet that there was no way our bucketloads of clothes could dry. She came up with a solution which could kill two birds with one stone, she lit up a charcoal stove in one of our bathrooms and hung our clothes in such a way that they were suspended right above the stove. Puffy the pomeranian would also walk in to warm herself when it got too cold for comfort.
Speaking of Puffy, i could recall vividly how my pa carried a black umbrella to shelter her in our garden while she was trying to pee. If she got wet in the rain, she would stink like a skunk for weeks so we would normally try to keep her dry during the wet season.
When the sun did not appear for days, the temperature dropped and i used to wear socks to bed. We did not even turn up the fan at night cos it was breezy and cool enough to do without it.
After moving away from the town, i no longer go through such punishing weather. In fact, friends in Singapore or other parts of Malaysia could not even begin to comprehend what it's like to be living in the path of an unblocked monsoon weather. Those living in the west coast of peninsula Malaysia and Singapore are pretty lucky they are partially shielded by Sumatra and Borneo respectively.
How ironic! While i was creating this blog, the rainclouds starting forming and now it's raining like there's no tomorrow! It's a majestic sight from my window here....heh heh... i think i'll just enjoy the view...ciao
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